Conventionally, in the production of consumer goods such as, for example, meat or other food products, the food is fed (typically pumped) or stuffed into a casing in a manner that allows the casing to fill with a desired amount of the product. As is well-known, the casings can be a slug-type natural or artificial casing that unwinds, advances, stretches and/or pulls to form the elongate casing over the desired product. Another type of casing is a heat-sealed tubular casing formed by seaming a thin sheet of flexible material, typically elastomeric material, together. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,085,036 and 5,203,760 describe examples of automated substantially continuous-feed devices suitable for forming sheet material or flat roll stock into tubular film casings. The contents of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
It is known to use edible collagen film to cover semi-solid sections of meat during processing to form a smoked meat product that gives the appearance of a solid meat muscle, such as a boneless ham. One example of a known prior art apparatus used to form a smoked meat product is the “TCM2250” pumpable model from Tipper Tie, Inc., located in Apex, N.C.
Clip attachment apparatus or “clippers” are well known to those of skill in the art and include those available from Tipper Tie, Inc., of Apex, N.C., including product numbers Z3214, Z3202, and Z3200. Examples of clip attachment apparatus and/or packaging apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,389,533; 3,499,259; 4,683,700; and 5,161,347, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
A double clipper can concurrently apply two clips to the tails and leading portions of casings or “chubs”. One clip defines the first end portion of the next package or chub and the other defines the trailing or second end portion of the package or chub then being closed. A cutting mechanism, typically incorporated in the clipper, can sever the two packages before the enclosed package is removed from the clipper apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,713 describes a double clipper apparatus used to apply two clips to a casing covering. U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,701 proposes a clipper with a clip attachment mechanism configured to selectively fasten a single clip or two clips simultaneously. The mechanism has two punches, one of which is driven directly by a pneumatic cylinder and the other of which is connected to the first punch using a pin and key assembly. The pin and key assembly allows the punches to be coupled or decoupled to the pneumatic cylinder drive to apply one single clip or two clips simultaneously. U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,424 proposes an apparatus for movement of U-shaped clips along a rail. The apparatus includes a clip feed for advancing clips on a guide rail and the arm is reciprocally driven by a piston and cylinder arrangement. The contents of each of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
Typical clippers pivot during operation from a home position to a clip position. Stationary mount clippers have also been used, such as, for example, the clipper used in an SAM 3E product sold by Tipper Tie, Inc. The SAM 3E product uses separate rotoactuators to close the gate during a clip cycle. However, the gate sometimes moves (“kicks”) outward from a relatively tightly closed operative position, which can malform the clip being applied and/or generate an undesirably loose closure around the gathered portion of the casing. Other stationary clippers have used mechanical servo-driven cam systems. While potentially more resistant to machine/frame flexure, the mechanical systems may not allow sufficient dwell time after clipping and may be unable to form a desirably configured tight clip onto the product.